Borderlands 2 VR

Quotation forthcoming.

The beloved qualities of Borderlands 2 are still there, but the fun suffers from an unoptimized VR experience.

What we have here is a beloved, fun game battling an ill-advised move into virtual reality. [Issue#158, p.96]

It could have been a fantastic VR porting but this version of Borderlands 2 lacks any previously released DLCs and PlayStation Aim controller support. Too Bad.

We cannot fathom why Gearbox neglected to include the DLCs of the original game and decided not to support the Aim Controller (that would have been absolutely ideal for this game), but that doesn't mean Borderlands 2 VR is a bad game. On the contrary, Pandora in VR looks wonderful, the superb gunplay is present and the "shoot n' loot" design will, once again, keep you going for over 25 hours.

Borderlands 2 VR continues the trend of enjoyable but flawed ports of larger, traditionally designed games. Few additions make the cut to enhance the experience, but the simple fact of existing in virtual reality adds significantly to the overall gameplay.

The VR port of Borderlands 2 (a game from 2012) falls short of what could have been a fantastic release. This is due to a lack of polish and the glaring omission of co-op.

Borderlands 2 VR is a very good game that can still be enjoyed in VR, but it lacks some alternative controls and its multiplayer to fulfill its potential.

Borderlands 2 VR is a flawed port of one of the best shooter FPS of the past generation of consoles.

The small gameplay tweaks aren’t enough to rewrite a game that was designed around four-player co-op, but the core of the experience is so strong, rewarding, and entertaining that it serves as a feature-rich and exciting VR shooter in its own right despite its flaws. If you’re looking for a PSVR game to really sink your teeth into with dozens of hours of content, then Borderlands 2 VR is still an easy recommendation.

Borderlands 2 VR sacrifices co-op, but returning to Pandora from this closer perspective is still a largely fun shoot and loot experience when played with the DualShock 4.

This porting fails to address many aspects that required VR-focused re-work. In additions, content cuts like the absence of co-op mode essentially make this version of Borderlands 2 sub-par to the original game.

Borderlands 2 VR is exactly what you think the original would be like in the early days of virtual reality. It never does anything to separate itself from the pack of decent VR adaptions, but, can provide a fun point and shoot experience once you get accommodated with your preferred controls and comfortability settings.

Despite a growing industry-wide acceptance that open-world games developed for the screen do not adapt well to VR – Gearbox bowled on ahead with their, years too late, adaptation of Borderlands 2. A port with unsurprisingly fails to fix the inherent problems with this transition – with gammy controls and gameplay not well adjusted for the VR medium.

Odd control schemes, lack of core gameplay features from previous installments, and unfortunate legacy design decisions make this holistically feel like an inferior experience.

There’s clearly a lot of effort been invested into bringing Borderlands 2 to PSVR, and that’s appreciated. The gameplay does feel dated these days – and the lack of DLC and co-op is a real shame – but there’s still fun to be had with the loot-shootin’ loop, and Pandora scales well to virtual reality. The PS Move control scheme is cumbersome but the game plays fine with a DualShock 4 in hand, and an array of comfort options mean that you can tailor the experience to your exact needs.

Borderlands 2 VR technically works in VR but hasn't managed to escape the feeling of being an outright port. There's not much to the game which really feels like it's making good use of VR, and more than a handful of players are likely to find the game uncomfortable without cranking up the comfort settings. By the time you add up all the cons of playing the game in VR—no co-op, no DLC, no VR-specific interactions, poor graphics, gamepad-first design, and necessary immersion-reducing comfort settings—you might start to wonder why you aren't just playing the original Borderlands 2 in PSVR's 'game theater' mode—if not on your TV without the bother of the headset.

A great game awfully translated to VR due to its bad control schemes.

Borderlands 2 VR is a stripped down version of a six year old game which has simply nothing to share with virtual reality. And at a full price, too.